Grenadier
Course Details
Instructor(s)
Current qualified instructors:
- Any AI wearing the Badge
Number of candidates
Eight candidates are maximum per one instructor.
Objectives of the course
Grenadier Course aims to provide participants with the skills required to be an effective and contributing factor within squad gameplay. This course will make you better understand how to use this kit as to countyer it.
Prerequisites
You can only participate in this course once you've read Squad Core Game Mechanics and passed both Basic Infantry and Advanced Infantry exams.
About the role
The Grenadier is a rather versatile class in Squad, armed with your standard rifleman primary weapon plus an underbarrel grenade launcher attached.
The grenadier loadout comes as follows:
- Assault Rifle
- High Explosive Shells (10 HE rounds)
- Smoke Shells (2 White smoke, 2 blue smoke, 2 red smoke)
- Field Dressing x2
- Shovel
- Some factiosn get a pistol as well fo the kit
The grenadier's UGL comes in multiple flavours, depending on the faction you play with.
Principles of the Grenadier
The first type of ammunition that can be used is explosive, to which you get a generous 10 shells. These rounds have a medium area of effect (about 10m), meaning that most internal structures can be cleared with one of these rounds when they’re placed in the centre of the room, wounding all enemies not behind a surface.
The second type of ammunition, smoke, is used in more of a supporting role for your whole squad/team. Opposed to the regular smoke grenades, the UGL Smoke round deploys instantly albeit over a shorter spread than the commonplace smoke grenade. Allthough this is dependant on the faction again as Brit smokes have a very large field of effect with impact. Launching smoke at entrenched enemies can often block their line of sight and make their position redundant and can achieve the effect that explosive rounds may not be able to if the enemy is well-placed within their structure.
Start by practicing on flat ground, pick targets, such as a vehicle or simply a spot to the ground you know the distance to and try firing shells on it. Using the smoke rounds instead of the grenade rounds for practice makes it easier to tell where the shells are landing. After you mastered putting grenades on target, practice shooting up a hill or down a slope to learn to compensate for elevation. After this, practice firing shells through doors and windows into buildings.
The grenade launcher should be used to attack enemies who are suppressed behind cover, taking cover inside a structure, or bunched up in the open. It should NOT be used to engage single infantry in the open. No matter how good of a shot you are, if you attack a single soldier in the open chances are quite low for a hit. Unlike when you fire a round with multiple targets in the targeted area, in which case it is very likely that you wound or even kill multiple hostiles. Use the rifle if you have no good use for the grenade launcher.
The grenadier should be with a squad at all times. If your squad managed to suppress hostiles that are taking cover behind structures such as rocks or trees, the grenadier has good chances to finish them off by putting rounds against elevations behind the suppressed squad, such as a tree, or by targeting the squad directly, if their cover isn't too so high that by shooting above it the grenades detonate too far away to do damage. To overcome obstacles it is particularly important for the grenadier to seek out positions where he has an elevation over the enemy squad. If enemies are hiding in small structures such as bunkers or towers rounds fired inside the structure through openings are almost certain to inflict casualties. To target structures the rest of the squad needs to lay down suppressive fire so the grenadier can aim and shoot, since the hostiles will obviously use the openings of the targeted structure to return fire themselves.
The smoke grenades the grenadier holds can be fired over a long range, just like the regular grenade rounds. That means instead of firing smoke to cover the squad from the enemy, the grenadier can deploy smoke in the proximity of the hostile squad obstructing the view of the enemy, providing more effective cover. However, one round holds less smoke, so one might consider to use multiple shells to full obstruct the view of the hostiles.
Environmental adaptation
The grenadier kit is used differently based on terrain. This role can be highly effective when setting up ambushes, especially when the grenadier is on high ground in cover. If you have a good reason, like targeting a fortified structure or attacking an open spot, by all means equip it.
Woodland
- Woodland areas are a good terrain to use the grenadier kit.
- There are plenty of objects like trees, rocks, etc. to detonate grenades against.
- However hostiles tend to use the cover to approach your squad and engage at close range, so make sure you are not overrun while trying to target hostiles with grenades.
Desert
- Large groups of infantry are obvious targets on desert maps.
- The smoke launcher is what really shines on this map.
- If the squad needs to retreat, smoke can be deployed in the proximity of the enemy squad, obstructing a greater field of view as opposed to tossing smoke in the proximity of your own squad.
Urban
- In Urban areas engagements can be so close that there is little use for the grenadier kit, since rounds will only detonate when launched further than 15m.
- However, if there are a lot of street fights going on, rather than house fights, the grenadier kit is a very good choice.
- In Urban maps infantry can often be found near walls and objects, making it easy to detonate an HE round next to them.
Position of the Grenadier in Squad
Generally the grenadier should just stick with the squad. Unlike the AR who can form a fireteam with an rifleman supporting him, or the marksman who occasionally falls behind the squad to provide accurate fire from a safer distance.
The grenadier really relies on supressive fire. If you want to target a squad or shoot grenades into openings ask the rest of the squad to lie down supressive fire, so that you can aim carefully. Grenadier putting rounds in a squad while the team surpresses with tapped fire.
Usage of HE rounds
At start you get 10 HE rounds in your kit. HE rounds are really useful against infantry. They have really good splash damage,but HE rounds to be detonaded they need to be fire from distance. Minimum distance is 15m. HE rounds are best to be used when attacking a group of enemy ,or enemy squad that is in tight formation, you can kill and wound many of them,while others will retreat and panic. HE rounds should also be used while clearing some compounds and entrenched positions. HE rounds shouldn't be used against single enemy.
Usage of Smoke shells
Smoke shells are made for marking. When someone mark enemy position or when you see an enemy in distance, fire a smoke and call out the contact. For example : Enemy Squad on red smoke ,North West,300m. Lots of grenadiers are not using smoke shells,but now with vehicles out and fighting vehicles in pipiline they will be used more ,because you will mark enemy positions with smoke and then fighting vehicle will take care of it with their optic zoom on gun position.
Getting use to drop of shells
There is a significant drop when using shells in distance. Please use this guide by our fellow member Salk!s to learn how to calculate the drop.
Distance
All GL have the possibility to range, best way to get to know ranges is by using your map and reference points.
You can always ask your SL for an FTL and mark so he can remark, in this way its easier to learn distances.
Attacking a vehicle
- As a grenadier you shouldn't be attacking heavy vehicles.
- Sometimes when the AT guy is out of rockets you can help him out by taking down light vehicle if its already damaged.
- Also HE rounds have really good splash damage against trucks.
- You can kill enemies that are riding in back with splash damage easily.
What it takes to destroy enemy vehicles - check this guide from our fellow members
Ambushes
- A grenadier is crucial for making a proper ambush.
- Him and MG are the ones that will open fire first.
- Always ask for permission to fire before actually opening fire.
- Find a proper place for an ambush
- the best thing to do is find high ground with some cover. This way they wont know what hit them.
- Hit them a few times, this will stop their advance and make them retreat and panic.
Practicals
During the new approach we'll be focussing more on practical use of the kit, ranging and distance knowing is the weay forward. It will help you with your overall aim.
You'll only get better by playing the kit!